Chapter 1
I was on fire.
That was the only possible explanation. There was some kind of invisible fire consuming every inch of my skin. Why wasn't my dress burning off? Or my bed? The shackles around my ankles felt like they were tighter than usual, working harder than usual to keep me contained.
Did Glendower poison me? Surely not. All I'd eaten in weeks was raw fruit. Unless there was poison in the water they left for me?
Another agonising ripple of fire ran over my body, sinking into my skin until I could feel it in my bones. Had my skin always been so tight? I ran one hand over the opposing forearm; the movement excruciating.
My skin felt… thicker. Tougher.
The light was fading, but the darkness wasn’t as oppressive as usual. No, that wasn’t right. My eyes were sharper than usual.
I could hear insects on the cave roof that I hadn’t noticed before. Smell the tantalizing scent of the world outside these walls.
It was almost too much. I’d adjusted to the darkness, the smell of damp earth, the never-ending drip, drip, drip of water that ran down my wall whether or not it had rained. I didn’t want this tease of the outside world that I was prohibited from joining.
The skin on my arms rippled, visible through the tattered sleeves of my threadbare dress. I gasped as the faintest outline of scales brushed over my sickly pale skin. Gold flashed, glinting in the darkness, before disappearing as quickly as it came.
Gods. I wasn't on fire. It was my emergence. My dragon was surfacing, trying to shift.
I bit down on my bottom lip, resisting the urge to scream as my inner beast fought for supremacy. She couldn’t get out. The shackles on my ankles made sure of that.
Today was the day my mother had talked about with such excitement. This moment was why the flight of dragons who stole me had sold me to the fae before I came of age.
Some of the burning subsided, giving way to a strange heaviness in my limbs. It tingled, urging me to ignore the pain. To get up. To follow that sensation wherever it led me.
To them.
They were here.
✽✽✽
I awoke the next morning feeling the same, but different. I hadn’t shifted, but maybe I could. One day. If I got out of these chains. It was a reassuring thought. I’d be a lot harder to imprison if I could fly away.
There were two clay bowls on the floor of the cave, positioned under the crack that ran along the roof to let in fresh air, to catch the rainwater.
I picked up the first one, drinking deeply. I’d never felt so parched in my life. With the other bowl, I scooped up some water and washed my face and body as best I could without taking off the only dress I owned. I wasn’t confident I’d be able to get it on again if I did, I’d grown a little since they had moved me here.
Even the minimal amount of water got rid of some of the dirt that clung to me after sweating so heavily last night.
Would it happen again tonight? I hadn’t actually shifted. I scrunched my eyes shut and let out a long breath at the idea of going through that torture every night, especially since I was planning on hiding this recent development from my keepers.
The snapping of twigs outside made me instantly straighten, putting my back defensively against the cave wall, pressing against the mural of a black dragon cutting through a pink and orange sky that I’d worked on for… however long I’d been here.
Years, probably.
The boulder that blocked the cave entrance moved to the side, revealing my owners, Glendower and Evalina Castell. Standing behind them were Kenley and Logan Castell, Evalina’s other mates. They must be on their way out. They only came as a group when they were going somewhere.
“There she is!” Glendower crowed, clapping with delight as if it surprised him to find me chained to the wall where he’d left me.
“Where else would she be?” Evalina muttered drily. She didn’t like me. Her dark blue eyes ran over my filthy gray dress and matted black hair with disdain. I looked about as different from her as could be, with her silky violet dress and white-blonde hair pulled back into a twist.
Her severe hairstyle highlighted her angular features and the fine lines on her face. I had no idea how old Evalina and her mates were, but I knew that fae had long lives.
They could easily outlive me. I could spend my entire life here, under their control.
“My little dragon, you must have grown. Your dress.” Glendower frowned, taking in the new tears in my dress from all my writhing around last night.
“Her dress is fine,” Evalina snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously at her mate.
“Of course, my dear,” Glendower soothed, giving her an adoring smile that made me want to vomit in my mouth. I hated when they acted like they weren’t both soulless monsters.
“Give her the food, G,” Kenley grumbled, glaring at me through the cave entrance. The lush green trees behind him looked so tempting. Though it was pointless to run. My chains stopped me within a foot's reach of the boulder that trapped me.
“Yes, we need to leave. The Council won’t convene itself,” Logan added impatiently, crossing his arms and tapping his bare foot in the dirt.
It never failed to annoy me that both this set of jailers and my last ones who had sold me to the fae in the first place, served on their respective councils for their races.
Glendower tossed a bundle of food onto my bed and I locked my muscles in place to avoid pouncing on it and ripping into it with my teeth.
“She seems different,” Glendower mused, tilting his head to the side as he examined me. He was a shrewd fae, but the questions he’d asked me in the past made me think he didn’t know much about dragons. Certainly, the dragons who sold me to him wouldn’t have told him they were getting rid of me because they knew that one day keeping me would be more hassle than it was worth.
The dragons hadn’t thought to put shift-proof shackles on me though. That was all Glendower — he wasn’t as stupid as he looked.
“I’ll be back to check on you later, my little dragon,” he said eventually, his cheerful mask back in place. “Eat up.”
I didn’t need telling twice. The second my captors left, I ripped into the bundle of food, squealing in excitement when I found a cold chicken drumstick in there.
It was almost enough to make me forget about the tingling in my arms, urging me to escape my prison and track down the source of both my discomfort and my hope, waiting just outside these walls for me.
✽✽✽
Six months later
The scraping sound of the large boulder that blocked the entrance to my cave announced Glendower’s entry. When I first arrived here, noise used to make me jump, but these days I heard him coming long before the stone moved. Besides, nowadays it brought me a pitiful sense of anticipation. Glendower’s presence meant someone to talk to, and usually food.
I was becoming quite the well trained little pet.
“My little dragon. How are you today?”
“Fine,” I replied absently, waving off my jailer as I focused on the trees I was adding to the mural above my bed. I couldn’t get the depth right. The six figures of the gods in their flowing white gowns looked obnoxiously large against the background.
Maybe that was a good thing. Perhaps they’d go a little easier on me if I flattered them enough.